Special Projects

Aircraft and aircraft structures have been used for a variety of different types of Special Projects at eCube Solutions. This diverse group of clients have one thing in common – a need for a customer-focused business to provide access to aircraft and bespoke services in a safe and secure location. eCube Solutions has the facilities, capabilities and culture to deliver outstanding results, however demanding the requirements.

R&D projects for aerospace OEMs

In 2014, Airbus needed to perform the Phase 3 A320 sharklet retrofit modification demonstrator – the final prototyping of the sharklet retrofit mod before going live with airline customers in 2015. eCube Solutions sourced the aircraft, and provided the facilities and support resources to successfully manage the project at St. Athan. Over 30 Airbus engineers were hosted over a period of 9 weeks, performing the modification, while writing the final version of the paperwork for approval by the authorities. During the process, a major customer event with over 60 airline and MRO attendees was held by Airbus on location, delivering workshops to demonstrate how to accomplish the modification in a real MRO setting. After the completion of the project, the wings were cut off and shipped to Airbus as part of the evidence for the approval process.
Airbus found us to be the ideal partner for this kind of project, commenting to us that we were extremely responsive to their needs, finding rapid solutions to challenges as they arose, and delivering an excellent value service.

Film and TV sets

When the BBC studios need an interior or exterior of an aircraft as part of the set for a series, they regularly contact eCube Solutions. The entire crew can be accommodated at our premises for the filming of a scene, and it can be accomplished conveniently and discreetly, in a location at which the public have no access. We have provided aircraft for Dr. Who episodes on several occasions, while Sherlock has also filmed on one of our aircraft. The local BBC team also frequently loan or purchase aircraft parts to take to the studios and use as props, when a sci-fi / aviation image is required.
Pinewood Films have used one of our aircraft hulls as a prop for filming, loaning it for a period to use at the adjacent Picketston site, which has been used by production companies as a film location over many years.

Flight deck and cabin simulation / training

After the part-out of an aircraft is complete, an extremely common part of the disposal process is to perform structural cuts to remove the flightdeck, and sections, or all, of the cabin.
The flightdecks are mostly sold to become simulators, while the cabin sections are generally used for crew training purposes. In cases when there is not a market demand for a length of a particular cabin types, fuselage cuts to remove doors and overwing exits are frequently accomplished, since all operators need access to such exits as a regulatory requirement of staff training.
Cabins sections have also been produced for the purposes of airport fire crew training.
eCube delivers these mini-projects to the highest quality standards, performs cuts with precision and attention to detail. Whatever the special nature of your requirements for airframe structures, we will happily discuss with you the most effective way to accomplish your objective.